Chronicles of Jeremiah
by Marioninja1
Summary: After his world is destroyed, a teenager named Jeremiah travels from dimension-to-dimension to bring his world back. Note that the other half of this story, from Ianus' POV, is made by Xan075. Find his version on my favorites.
1. Chapter 1

A tall, six-foot-something teenager stood in my way, cracking his knuckles. To his left stood a shorter, yet still intimidating teenager.

"What a great day to start the week," I said sarcastically to Ianus, my best friend.

"Not for most people," Ianus said. "We're just lucky."

I ran a hand through my shaggy black hair, thinking of who would fight who.

"You want to go against the big one?" I asked. I was on the short side, only hitting five foot five.

"Sure," Ianus said. "The bigger they are, the harder they fight."

"Right then," I said, and charged at the small one. I stopped focusing on whatever Ianus was doing, as the teen I'd chosen to fight was better than I'd expected. I ducked under his punch, landing a few good blows on his stomach, then tried to hit his face. He caught my fist, though, and hit me across the face with a left hook, his ring cutting open my cheek. I stumbled backward and the teen tried kicking me, but I caught his leg, pulled, and he tumbled to the ground.

I jumped on top of him, hitting him several times across the face, and he shouted "Uncle! Uncle!"

I stood, blood running down my cheek, and, when Ianus was finished, we walked out onto the open street.

"You okay?" Ianus asked. I figured that he knew the answer to that question just by looking at the side of my face that was covered in blood.

"This week's been pretty weird, huh?" I asked. I'm Jeremiah. My world was limited to the small town we lived in, where I spent my days hanging out with Ianus. Even though he had a pretty weird name, he was still pretty cool.

"Yeah," Ianus agreed. "Something is going to happen. The air is filled with anticipation."

I nodded. "Ain't that the truth, brother. Maybe it'll be something good."

If I had any idea whatsoever how wrong I was, I wouldn't have had the will to keep on living. Actually, I would've, because I'm the kind of guy who takes situations really lightly, but still. We talked until we got to my house, when I said goodbye to Ianus and went inside. My mother, father, sister and I were really tight, and got along very well. I know some people have relationships where they hate their siblings and stuff, but I was never like that.

"Hey sis," I smiled at Tracy, who was reading a magazine about video games. Though I hate to admit it, Tracy was a bigger gamer than I was, and could destroy me in any video game.

"Hey," Tracy said. "Is Ianus coming over soon?"

Tracy had a giant crush on Ianus, thinking that he was cute and all that. It was his attitude, she said. He was always calm, even in hard situations, acting like he always knew what would happen next. She even liked his name, because 'something about it's just so gentlemanly.' To each his/her own, I suppose. Ianus didn't know that she was head-over-heels for him, which annoyed Tracy, since she gave him valentines since she was five. I used to tell her that Ianus was a bit thick in the romance department, but she never really listened.

"Nope." I said. Tracy finally looked up, gasping when she saw the dried blood on my face.

"OMG!" Tracy said. I think she used to say things like 'OMG' and 'LOL' to annoy me. It worked, to her credit. "Mom's going to be pissed at you!"

"Hey, we got attacked first." I said. "Ianus'll vouch for me."

"You and Ianus got into _another_ fight?" Mom asked, walking into the room. I turned to her, and she frowned at my bloody face. "Who was it with this time?"

"I, err, don't know." I admitted. I had no idea who the kids who fought us were, but I knew that, when somebody wanted you hurt, you fought back. That's what I thought, anyways. I didn't get into fights much until the week before that Monday, when I got into several fights over one week, when the world started getting crazy.

Mom sighed and took me to the bathroom, where she began washing my face. She disinfected my wound, then put a band-aid over the cut on my cheek. It became a scar after it healed, but it was a cool scar right under my eye, so I didn't complain. Dad got home a little later, and Mom told him about the fight. Dad called Ianus, who vouched for me, and that was that.

The rest of the day was normal, but, when night fell, a massive black cloud appeared out of nowhere, cloaking everything in shadow. I remember sitting on the couch, doing homework, while Dad watched the news.

"Huh. They were saying it was going to be perfect weather, but now it looks like it's going to rain." Dad said.

I had a feeling that no, this wasn't a raincloud, and yes, my life had changed forever. Then, Tracy screamed. I shot up, running to her room, and literally kicked the door open. And there, in the floor, Tracy was being attacked by some...thing. It was made of absolute shadow, darker than the darkest night, and had yellow, glowing, beady eyes. I kicked it off of her, through the window it had came in from.

"Trace, are you okay?" I asked, getting down on one knee.

"I was just playing video games." Tracy sniffed.

"C'mon, we gotta go." I said, though I knew that, in short, we were screwed. Suddenly, the shadow-creature I later learned was called a Heartless jumped back through the window and jumped at me. I sidestepped it, and what looked like a giant key appeared in my hand. It had a gold chain on it, with a gold cartoon skull on the end of the chain. The whole thing was black and gold, looking way more elegant than a guy like me would ever need.

I looked at the Heartless, then at the keyblade, and attacked.


	2. Chapter 2

I hit the Heartless twice with the keyblade, the second sending it flying, and, in midair, I thrust my sword through it. It faded away, and I helped my sister up.

"Go get Mom and Dad and tell them to get out of here." I ordered. "I'm going to get Ianus."

"Alright." Tracy said. "What if more of _them_ come?"

I picked up a baseball bat that Tracy had, as she was an avid baseball player. "Crack them over the head and get away from them. These...shadow-things can't be that strong." The keyblade faded, and my sister looked at my hand.

"What was that key-thing?" Tracy asked.

"I don't know." I said. "I don't know. Just go!" Tracy ran off, and I went to the front door, looking up at the dark sky. For a second, I wondered if this was the apocalypse, then ran off to Ianus' house. A few steps out of my house, however, three Heartless came out of the ground and attacked. I ducked under the first's flying attack, then spun and destroyed it. The second walked towards me before I destroyed it, then, I pointed the keyblade at the last Heartless and shot a ball of fire at it, burning it to nothing. My keyblade disappeared, and I kept running to Ianus' house.

When I say Ianus' "house," I mean apartment. I knew that he had a sister of sorts, Phaedra, that he'd taken off the streets. I'd sworn on my life not to tell anybody about her, due to the fact that she'd be shipped off and Ianus would be arrested.

When I got to their room, I tried the door, finding that it was locked. My keyblade (at the time I just thought of it as the 'giant, magic, cartoon key') appeared in my hand, and I tapped the door. I heard the lock clicked and opened the door, only to have a book thrown in my face. I caught it, then looked at the cover.

"Phaedra, throwing your manga?" I asked, shaking my head slowly. "For shame."

"How did you open the door?" Phaedra asked.

"This thing." I said, waving the keyblade. Ianus opened the door, raising the keyblade over his head, but noticed it was me before he attacked. "We gotta go," I said, feeling that the classic 'hello, how are you doing?' was out the window and the 'world's ending, we need to go' was in.

Ianus nodded, and told Phaedra to follow us. We walked out into the hallway, where several Heartless came at us.

"Shit," I cursed. "I can't keep this up, man. I'm getting tired."

"You've got me now," Ianus said. "I can take a few."

I smiled, Ianus' words encouraging me more than he knew. I lifted my keyblade, and said "I take these. You take those. Phaedra, you can watch in amazement." I shot forward, spinning in a circle to take out two of the Heartless, then impaled the third. A fourth nearly hit me, but I blocked and kicked it away. It hit the wall, and I swung my keyblade, destroying it.

"Nice!" Phaedra said.

"We need to get onto open ground," Ianus said. "It's too hard to fight in close quarters with these keys."

I nodded, then ran down the stairs, taking out the few Heartless that appeared. Once we got to the bottom of the apartment building I opened the door, and what I saw was unlike anything I'd seen, even counting the Heartless. I saw my world, fading away, and I knew that my family was gone. I felt numb, and didn't hear whatever Ianus and Phaedra said.

For some reason, my keyblade lifted itself up into the doorway, pointing out into oblivion, and turned itself, my hand hanging on. A white circle opened itself, showing another world. I was shocked enough to come back to the present, looking through the portal with wide eyes.

"Is that a portal?" Phaedra asked.

I shrugged and said "Should we go through it?"

"Do we have any other choice?" Ianus said.

"Guess not," I said, and jumped through the portal, landing on the sidewalk of a snowy word. Ianus and Phaedra followed, but calmly walked through the portal instead of jumping through like an idiot.

"Where the hell are we?" Phaedra asked.

I stood, and shivered. "It's freakin' cold." I said.

"Man up!" Phaedra commanded.

"Hey! I'm short, so I don't hold in much heat." I said sarcastically. I noticed the portal was still open behind us, with several Heartless getting ready to jump into the new world. I'd gotten pretty good at making my keyblade appear by this point (or I thought I did; in truth I had a lot to learn about, well, everything) so I made my keyblade appear and closed the portal. I was too late, sadly, so a few Heartless got in.

A couple turned the corner, one of them with dyed hair and the other wearing a 'Plumtree' shirt.

"Heartless!" The girl blurted out, and, out of her purse, pulled out a giant mallet, smashing one of the shadows.

"What the-!" I was cut off when a Heartless jumped at me. I ducked under it and destroyed it with my keyblade.

"You have a keyblade?" The girl asked.

"Ianus does, too." I said, jumping and destroying a Heartless. "I'm Jeremiah."

"Ramona Flowers." The girl said. Ianus finished off the last Heartless, and I sighed.

"I can't keep fighting shadows like this." I said.

"You mean Heartless?" Ramona asked.

"You know what these things are?" Ianus asked.

"Yeah." Ramona asked. "Don't they teach this stuff in Canada?"

"We're not exactly from your world." I said.


	3. Chapter 3

"Sweetness," I said. "Canadian turkey bacon. Life is looking up!"

Ramona raised her eyebrow at my actions, but dismissed it, instead asking "What happened?"

I told her of what had happened, and Ianus told her of his side of the story. Once both of us finished speaking, Ramona patted me on the hand.

"I'm sorry you lost your family." Ramona said.

"I'll get them back." I said, determined. Then, I shoved all the hash browns I could into my mouth. "Dude, Canadian breakfast is the best ever."

"Your family got killed and you're talking about hash browns?" Phaedra asked, sounding rather angry.

"Sorry." I said, then, loudly, "'Woe is me! My family have died, slaughtered by eternal blackness!' Phaedra, you can either look back at the past, sad as can be, or lift up your head, smile, and make everything better."

"I didn't know that there _were_ other dimensions," Scott Pilgrim, Ramona's boyfriend cut in.

"Neither did we," Ianus answered, "until about half an hour ago."

I looked at Scott Pilgrim. "Did you ever tell him about this stuff?"

"Never had reason to, really." Ramona shrugged. While Ianus and Scott kept talking, I focused on talking to Ramona.

"How do we bring back our world?" I asked, sipping my orange juice.

"You have to find and lock Kingdom Hearts." Ramona said. "But you two are way too weak to do that yet. If I were you, I'd focus on getting stronger before anything else."

"What's Kingdom Hearts?" I asked.

"A door. There's a lot of stuff I could tell you about it, but, to keep it simple, you shut and lock it, and your world comes back." Ramona said.

I nodded, then asked "How did my keyblade make a portal?"

"Looks like your keyblade has special powers." Ramona said. "The keychain is a nice touch, too, since you came from a dead world." Ramona winced. "Sorry."

"My world isn't dead. It's just...resting." I said, completely sure that I'd fix my world.

"Whatever you say, man." Ramona said when, suddenly, I had another feeling, like the Heartless were coming. Ianus had it as well, and Ramona did too, pushing Scott out of the booth and onto the floor. "Scott, get your bass."

"How will _that_ help?" Ianus asked, his keyblade appearing in hand.

My keyblade appeared, and I walked out onto the streets. I didn't know what I was thinking, as it was more dangerous in the street, but I just knew that the more Heartless I killed, the stronger I would get. A flying Heartless came at me and I jumped into the air, hit it three times with my keyblade, then landed and spun around, destroying three Heartless that had came out from the ground.

"Jeremiah!" Ianus shouted. "We have to go! There's too many of them!"

Scott played bass very fast, and a portal like mine appeared. Distracted by this, however, I was tackled down by a Heartless.

"Go!" I shouted, kicking the Heartless off of me. Five more surrounded me, and I used fire to put some distance between us. I saw that Ianus was gone, but Phaedra was still in this world. I ran to the front of the diner, quickly killing whatever Heartless that got in my way, and ran inside.

"I'll take care of the kid and the Heartless." Ramona said. "Go!"

I looked at Scott, who had stopped playing bass, too tired to continue.

"I'll make my own portal." I said, thrusting my keyblade forward and turning it.

"Wait, you don't know where Ianus we-" The rest of Ramona's words went unheard as I dived into the portal, my last words to her an order, though it should've been a request.

"Take care of Phaedra!" I shouted.

As soon as I passed through the portal, it closed. It closed so fast, in fact, that it disappeared before I hit the ground. I looked up, seeing a ramen shop and a group of teenagers looking down at me.

"Dude, are you okay?" A brown-haired one asked. Then, "What jutsu was that? It was pretty wicked."

I raised an eyebrow. What the hell was a jutsu? I stood up, brushed myself off, and said "I'm fine. Where am I, exactly?"

"Konoha." A pink-haired one said. "I'm Sakura."

"I'm Kyle." The brown-haired one said.

"And I'm Naruto!" The last one shouted, then slurped up a whole bowl of ramen.

Needless to say, I was surprised.


	4. Chapter 4

I explained what had happened to my world (though the others- except Kyle -insisted that I meant village) and was dragged off to their 'Hokage,' the teenagers believing I was insane. Naruto unceremoniously tossed me in front of the Hokage's desk, my hands and legs bound, and the Hokage looked up from her paperwork.

"This crazy guy-" Naruto began when I cut him off.

"Shut up!" I shouted. "I'm not crazy!"

"Why else would you talk about keyswords and heartfuls!" Naruto asked, and the Hokage's eyes went wide.

"Don't you mean keyblades and Heartless?" The Hokage asked.

"That's what he said." Sakura said.

"Untie him right now!" The Hokage ordered, standing up. After a second of hesitation they did as she said and I sat up, rubbing my wrists as the Hokage talked to me. "Sorry about them. Not everyone knows about the Heartless. I'm Tsunade."

"Jeremiah," I nodded.

"So, why are you here?" Tsunade asked.

"To get stronger and bring my world back." I said, standing.

"What happened to your world?" Tsunade asked. Naruto, Sakura, and Kyle stood back, though Kyle was silently singing 'Lust For Life' by Iggy Pop.

"The Heartless took it over." I said. "Only my friend Ianus and his sister Phaedra made it out. I hope somebody else did, but I don't know."

"Where are your friends?" Tsunade asked.

"We split up." I said. "I can create portals with my keyblade, while Ianus had to use another portal. It's a long story."

Tsunade nodded. "You can tell it to me after you get some sleep. You look tired."

Right after she said that, I realized how fatigued I actually was. I yawned, and Tsunade walked over to me, putting a hand on my shoulder and leading me to an inn. She got my a bed, and as soon as my head hit the pillow I was out like a light.

When I woke up, I found black pants, a black long-sleeve shirt, a green flak jacket, and sandals near my bed. I took a shower, put them on, and faced Konoha.

When I got out onto the street, I immediately saw Kyle. He had long brown hair, mismatched eyes, and a goofy smile on his face. He was singing loudly, wearing a green flak jacket, black pants, and a short-sleeved black t-shirt. When he saw me, he stopped singing.

"'Sup dude?" Kyle asked. "Y'know, it's hard being in this series without spoiling some of Naruto: Kyle's Story. I'll try my best, though."

I had no idea what he was talking about, so I said "...Okay."

"Anyways, I'll be showing you around Konoha." Kyle said. "So, dude, what do you want to do next?"

"Find out how to help this world on its way." I said, not in the mood for a talk with a psycho.

"Oy." Kyle sighed, bending over. "Y'know, this would be a good time for a few Heartless to appear."

As if on cue, four Heartless appeared.

"Yeah!" Kyle shouted. Kyle shot fire out of his mouth, destroying two of the Heartless, while my keyblade appeared in my hand and I destroyed the other two with a few attacks from my keyblade. After the small battle, Kyle said "Hey, man, that's pretty wicked. Can I check it out?"

I shrugged and handed it to him, but, before he could touch it, the keyblade reappeared in my hand.

"Looks like it doesn't like you." I said sarcastically, the keyblade disappearing when I wished it to.

"That happens a lot." Kyle shrugged, then said "Dude, wanna get some ramen?"

"For breakfast?"

"It's lunchtime. Maybe you can tell me how I can help you on your way while we eat."

I winced. "I, err, don't exactly know myself."

"Huh." Kyle smiled. "Being a hero while you got no clue what you're doing? We're more alike than I thought."

"I doubt it, but still. Good to have you with me." I said, shaking Kyle's hand. As soon as our hands touched, I heard somebody speak.

"Hey Kyle." A girl said, and Kyle immediately span around.

"Annie!" Kyle smiled, running at her. She sidestepped his tackle, however, and looked me over.

"I've never seen you here before. I'm Aneko," the girl said. She had lavender hair and big brown eyes.

I nodded. "Jeremiah. I'm different."

"Who isn't?" Aneko asked, smiling, while Kyle started dancing.


	5. Chapter 5

Tsunade quickly assigned me the first mission she had with Heartless attached, putting me into a group with Kyle and a white-haired ninja named Kakashi. Kyle seemed to respect him, calling him his 'sharingan brother.' I had no idea what that was, but went with it, as you have to around Kyle; if you didn't, you would end up going just as crazy as him. Unbeknownst to me, this would be an extremely important mission, as I met Yetracx (pronounced Yeh-track-sis, though she told everyone to call her Yetra.)

We'd been walking for a pretty long time, Kyle singing all the while.

"God save us everyone/ We were broken people living under loaded gun." Kyle sang The Catalyst by Linkin Park. Kakashi had tuned him out, instead reading his book. I, though, had to suffer Kyle's singing. It wasn't bad, but, after several miles of walking in hot weather, you think the guy would shut up. After a few more lines, I finally broke my silence.

"Would you shut up?" I shouted. Suddenly, we were surrounded by Heartless, and very outnumbered. My keyblade appeared, even though I wasn't feeling like I should fight. Instead, I felt like I should just lay down and die. Kyle and Kakashi weren't so easily depressed, jumping into the crowd and causing major casualties. Still, they didn't look like they would win.

Of course, that's when lightning shot through the crowd, vaporizing about two-thirds of the Heartless.

"That was wicked, Kakashi!" Kyle shouted, patting his sensei on the back.

"That wasn't me." Kakashi said, looking around while picking off the few remaining Heartless. I began fighting, though thought about what had happened. I didn't have to think about it long, granted, because the powerful lightning-user came out of nowhere, impaling a Heartless I was about to destroy.

"Kill stealer!" Kyle complained when she killed his.

"This is a fight! Be serious!" The girl said. She had a light blue bob, wore a black hoodie, tight jeans, and black Converse shoes. I was shocked because the girl wore clothes that were like the clothes in my world.

"Who are you?" I asked, then saw the fairly large sword the girl used. Light blue lightning that matched her hair crackled around the sword, and flew from it at her command.

"Yetracx." The girl said.

I nodded, acting like it was a normal name, and destroyed three Heartless with a half-circle swipe.

"Just call me Yetra."

"Alright," I said. "So, where can I pick up one of those lightning swords?"

"Nowhere." Yetra said, destroying the final Heartless. She looked at me, and I saw that her eyes were ocean blue, and very serious. She looked me over, stopping on the keyblade in my hand. She searched the front pockets of her hoodie, taking out what looked like one of the headbands the ninja in this world had.

"Wha-!" Kyle exclaimed. "Dude, that's mine!"

"I stole it." Yetra said. My keyblade began to glow, and Yetra began to speak "You focus the keyblade on the item. I won't go into detail, but it keeps the Heartless from coming-"

"Destroys Heartless? Then it's done!" I said. A crown began to glow under my feet as the headband floated into the air, a giant keyhole glowing in the background, and I pointed the keyblade at the headband. Once the process was over, Kyle caught the headband, glaring at Yetra.

"Most girls with weird hair colors are nice." Kyle said. Neither Yetra nor I got it, but that didn't really matter, as nobody got what Kyle said anyway.

"That was kind of easy," I scratched the back of my head. "So, any reason you wear clothing like my world?"

"I'll make a deal with you," Yetra said. "Every time we get rid of the Heartless in the world, I tell you a fact about me."

"'We?'" I asked.

"You obviously don't know what you're doing, and a little help wouldn't kill you." Yetra said. I shrugged, then waved goodbye to Kakashi and Kyle. "See you guys. Tell Tsunade your world is safe."

"Will do, dude. Good luck!" Kyle said as Kakashi walked with him, his nose in a book.

I held my hand out to Yetra, and she looked at it.

"Hey, we've got only one way to travel, and I don't want to get separated." I said. In truth, I was desperate to have a friend with me, having never been alone for most of my life, and was worried that Yetra would disappear like Ianus did.

Yetra sighed, then took my hand. My keyblade appeared, and I thrust it forward, turning it. A portal appeared and Yetra gasped.

"Cool, ain't it?" I smiled. "Guess where we're going?"

"Hollow Bastion?" Yetra asked.

"Where?" I asked, confused, then shrugged. "It's possible. I just hope we end up somewhere good."

"Wait, you don't know where you're going?" Yetra asked, her voice a bit higher in her mild fear.

"Nope." I said, and jumped through the portal. Yetra fell with me, her eyes wide. To her credit, she didn't scream when we appeared several feet over a body of water.


	6. Chapter 6

We trudged out of the water, soaking wet. It wasn't a lake, as I thought right before I hit it; it was a freakin' pool, and chlorine was now in my eyes, burning them. Yes, I hated the chlorine in pools more than most things in life, but that's just one of my many oddities. Anyways, I walked out of the pool, with Yetra following close behind.

Then, a girl wearing a bikini pointed a scythe at my neck.

"Who are you and where did you come from?" The girl asked. She had dirty blonde hair and olive eyes.

"Obviously, I came from wherever we are, of course." I put as much sarcasm as I could in, and the girl frowned.

"Chill, Maka. Getting angry isn't cool." A teen with white hair appeared in the reflection of the girl's scythe.

"Now that," I said, "is a cool trick."

Yetra tapped me on the shoulder. "Hey, boy, we're outnumbered."

"Why don't you just call me Jeremiah?" I asked, then realized that Yetra didn't know my name.

"Okay then, Jeremiah. We're outnumbered." Yetra said.

"Aye," a tall, brown-haired teenager agreed, a claymore leveled at Yetra's neck. "I'm Riley, and you should get that girl to tell us her name, or this might get ugly. I don't really like fighting, so you should hurry."

"Yetra." Yetra said, eyes narrowed.

"And I'm Jeremiah," I said. "And, if this universe is anything like the others I've been in, I've got about five seconds before somebody saves my hide, explains what a Heartless is, and lets me go on my way."

I heard a gun cock, and I pushed Yetra down a second before flying backwards, pain shooting through my chest. I splashed into the deep end of the pool, sinking to the bottom. Though I never would've thought of it, but my inability to swim came back to haunt me.

"Not likely." A kid with a weird hairstyle said. He spun both of his guns around his trigger finger.

"Kid!" Riley shouted, then jumped in after me. He swam me up to the side of the pool, then laid me down. I coughed water out, noting that Yetra and the girl named Maka were about to go at it.

"Thanks," I gasped. "Why'd you save me?"

"I'm just a good natured guy." Riley shrugged, helping me up. "Maka, let 'er go. We can't just kill everybody that does something weird here."

"If you did," I said, "you'd end up killing each other. Teens carrying weapons are odd where I come from."

The others put their weapons down and, in a flash of light, they became other teenagers. I blinked in surprise, then said "What was in the pool water?"

"We're Weapons, and these are our Meisters." A blonde girl said. "I'm Kylie, and those two are Liz and Patti. And that sexy boy is Soul. I know some about the Heartless, but not enough to trust you."

"Where'd you learn it?" Yetra asked. I noticed that her sword wasn't visible on her and wondered whether she could make it appear like my keyblade of if she had some other trick. My life was so odd the past few days I would believe anything.

"Doctor Stein." Kylie said. "Follow me and I'll show you to him."

I nodded, following her, while Yetra glared at Maka. I had a feeling that, somehow, Yetra was my bodyguard...or something like it; she ran off with me without knowing my name, and she hated anyone who threatened me.

We eventually got to a classroom, and a man looked up. When I looked over his features, however, I noticed that he had mottled green skin, a scar across his face, and a bolt in his head. I yelped when I saw him, but he just lit a cigarette.

"Who's this?" Stein asked. "And can I dissect him?"

"Just try it." Yetra threatened.

"He's from another dimension." Kylie said, and Stein nodded.

"Do you have a keyblade?" Stein asked. I held my hand out, and my keyblade appeared.

"I can move between dimensions with it," I said, "not to mention I use it to destroy Heartless."

Stein nodded like everything I said was just run-of-the-mill, everyday business. "I'll notify Shinigami-sama. Kylie, can I trust you to get these two somewhere to sleep?"

Kylie nodded. "Jeremiah and Yetra probably have a few questions, though."

"Ask Kylie everything you want about our world," Stein exhaled smoke through his mouth. "I'll get you a book about the Heartless and Nobodies tomorrow."

"What's a Nobody?" I asked, confused, as Yetra played with her fingers.

Stein sat down at his desk. "Tomorrow. No questions until then."

I nodded and asked Kylie "Where is this place?"

"Death Weapon Meister Academy," Kylie said.


	7. Chapter 7

That morning, Yetra and I had breakfast while talking. We both learned about each other, though I had a feeling Yetra learned more about me than I did about her.

"Do you have any family?" I asked.

Yetra shook her head.

"Friends?" I asked.

Yetra shrugged.

"How'd you get to Kyle's world?" I asked.

"Well," Yetra said. "I don't really know. I just woke up and saw you guys fighting."

I thought that more than a few of the answers Yetra gave me was a lie, but I couldn't be sure, so I moved on. "Are you my friend?"

Yetra thought about it. "If you want me to be."

"I do," I said. "I like having friends. Do you think we'll ever find Ianus?"

"I'm sure we will eventually." Yetra said. "He might be looking for you, too."

"I hope so." I said. "So, what do you think will happen today?"

"Something big," Yetra assured me.

Once we got to the academy, Maka met us in front of the steps. Soul, Riley, and Kylie stood next to her.

"We were told about what happened." Maka said. "Sorry I was ready to kill you."

"I'm sure somebody else will want to kill me soon," I shrugged. "At least I know that, as long as I have an Irishman nearby, I'll be fine."

Riley smiled. "Good to see you're doin' alright. So, Yetracx...What kind of name is that?"

"I think it's cool." Soul said.

"It's not much of a name." Yetra said emotionlessly.

"Anyways, we're going to help you two learn to fight." Riley said. "I was assigned to be the leader, since I'm Kylie's Meister and she's a Death Scythe."

"A what?" I asked.

"It's a long story." Kylie said. "Anyways, you two should get out your weapons."

My keyblade appeared in my hand, and I spun it around.

"Can that thing seriously teleport you to other dimensions?" Soul asked.

"Yeah." I said. "It's good to have."

Yetra held her hand out, lightning surging around her hand. The lightning all went into the palm of her hand, shaping into a solid form. Then, in a flash of light, her sword was in her hand.

"That was cool." Soul said.

"Aye." Riley agreed.

"Anyways," Kylie said pointedly, "who is going against whom?"

"Dibs on Yetra!" Riley called.

Soul shrugged. "Whatever."

"Alright, here's the rules." Riley said. I realized that Riley was the leader of whatever group he was in. "Somebody says stop, ya' stop. Somebody begins bleeding, you stop. If the Heartless come, you stop, kill 'em, and start again. Got it?"

"Aye," I said, copying him.

"Laugh it up, keyblade." Riley said, but still smiled. "Alright, get ready." Kylie jumped into the air, changing into a claymore, and Riley caught her.

"Hey, can I hold her?" I asked.

Riley shrugged, handing me to her. Immediately, the handle felt hot. I immediately tossed the sword away, waving my hand.

"The hell was that?" I asked.

"Oh, right." Riley said. "If your soul doesn't match up or whatever- Kylie's the child prodigy, not me -then something like that'll happen. Can I hold your keyblade?"

"You can try." I said, handing it to him. Immediately, it disappeared and reappeared in my hand. "That happens."

"Fair enough." Riley shrugged. I turned, seeing Maka holding a scythe.

"How can you guys turn into weapons? I mean, that's just so...odd." I said.

"You have to understand," Kylie said, her voice coming from the claymore I wasn't able to hold. "This is our world. We've been surrounded by this all of our lives, so it isn't weird to us. But you, on the other hand, haven't; so, you think that this is weird. It works the same for us, though, because we think you and Yetra are weird."

"We are." I said. "My world's been destroyed for, what, three days? I'm not used to having a keyblade or a friend that can summon a sword that's almost as big as me out of lightning. But, I have to keep going."

"That was nice and all," Yetra said. "But we need to get training."

I shrugged, and Riley said "Go!"


	8. Chapter 8

Immediately, Maka swung her scythe, testing to see how good I was. I crudely blocked it, realizing how I'd only fought weak Heartless that required little-to-no experience. Maka then used her scythe to knock me down, then put the blade against my chest.

"Uncle." I squeaked.

Yetra, however, was much stronger and more experienced than I. Riley charged at her, swinging his blade to see how experienced she was, like how Maka had did to me. Yetra blocked it and countered, kicking the Irishman in the stomach. Riley doubled over, and Yetra stepped back, ready for anything.

"Piss," Riley coughed, standing up. He put his iPod's ear buds in and said "Right then. No holdin' back."

"I won't." Yetra said emotionlessly. Riley jumped forward, sword over his head. Riley brought the sword down, the blade whistling it was so fast. Yetra, though, was faster, blocking the sword. I noticed sparks of electricity flying up from the impact and "ooh"-ed. Yetra then tried kicking, only for Riley to grab her foot with a large hand.

"I learn better than most," Riley said, tossing her away. Yetra caught herself, stabbing her sword into the ground, and spun so that she stood behind it. She lifted it, the blade backwards, and Riley laughed. "Your sword's backwards, Yetra."

"I know." Yetra said, tossing the sword above Riley's head. She jumped, caught it when it wasn't backwards, and landed behind Riley. And, before Riley could turn around, she put the tip of the sword to his back. "Give up."

"Alright," Riley said, dropping Kylie. Soul, in his human form, poked me with his shoe, making me realize that I was still laying down. I saw Yetra's sword disappear, the lightning going back into her body, and made my keyblade disappear.

"Sorry, I was sleepy." I smiled, and stood. I walked over to Riley, taking his ear bud out and putting it into my ear. I recognized the song and asked "Heartkiller by HIM?"

"Don't judge me." Riley said, taking the ear bud back.

"Why's he listen to his iPod so much?" I asked.

Maka shrugged. "It's just one of his traits. I think it's cute."

"Oh. Right. Everyone's a couple here." I sighed, then smiled at Yetra. "That was awesome, Yetra."

"Really?" Yetra asked, her voice now full of emotion.

"Yeah." I said, patting her on the back. I heard someone clapping, and noticed Stein. Immediately, Riley grew stiff, and couldn't look Stein in the eye.

"Good job, Yetra." Stein said, though he didn't sound like he thought much of my friend. "You need work, Jeremiah."

I shrugged. "It is how it is."

"Well," Stein put a cigarette between his lips and lit it. "You should know what a Nobody is. When one becomes a Heartless, a Nobody is made. Those with stronger hearts have Nobodies that look more human."

"That's odd. But everything's odd in my life right now," I shrugged.

"Tell me your friends and family's names." Stein said, leaning against a tree.

"I don't know my mom and dad's names," I admitted. "The best and only friend I had was Ianus, and my sister's name was Tracey."

Stein nodded, taking out a notebook, and scribbled something down. After a few more seconds of scribbling, he looked at Yetra.

"And your name is Yetracx, correct?" Stein asked.

"Why?" Yetra asked, eyes narrowed.

"You are a Nobody, and you stay by Jeremiah because you only feel emotion from him." Stein said. "And you are Tracy's Nobody."

My eyes widened as I went through it in my head.

Tracy.

Yetracx.

All you had to do was add an X and an E.

"Wait, where does the E come from?" I asked, a bit desperate to disprove what Stein said.

"Her name is spelled 'Ytracx,'" Stein said. "She signed her name in her diary."

"You read my diary!" Yetra shouted.

"Yes," Stein said. "You knew that you were a Nobody, that you had some connection to Jeremiah. You also noted how you hoped he didn't find out, and that you would never tell him."

Yetra jumped forward, trying to hit Stein, but Riley stepped in front of the Doctor, getting a black eye. I grabbed Yetra, chanting "Calm down, calm down" until, finally, she stopped moving.

Then, it was my turn to get pissed off.

"What the hell, Stein?" I asked, letting go of Yetra. Stein was surprised at my reaction, but only showed it by an odd look in his eye. "You don't just break into somebody's stuff!

"You don't care that this means your sister is dead, or that Yetra is a Nobody?" Stein asked.

"I already knew that Tracey was probably dead, and Yetra's my friend." I said.

"She's not a perso-" I punched Stein in the face, his cheek swelling. Riley put me in a hold while I glared at Stein.

"Say that again," I said, "and you'll wake up with a broken nose."

Stein stood, crushed the cigarette I knocked from his lips with his heel, and walked off.

"Let him go," Stein said as he walked away. "And teach him how to fight."


	9. Chapter 9

"So," I asked, "your name is spelled Y-T-R-A?"

"Yeah, but it's harder to pronounce Ytra than Yetra." Yetra said, then "Is that really the only thing you have to say to me right now?"

We were sitting in Riley and Kylie's house, and there had been a very awkward silence for about fifteen minutes.

"Pretty much," I shrugged. "This doesn't change anything. We go world-to-world, get stronger, and save my world."

"It isn't that black-and-white, Jeremiah." Yetra said. "Your sister is a _Heartless._ I'm her _Nobody_."

"And?"

"Are you trying to be stupid?"

"It comes naturally."

Everyone laughed at that, except Yetra, who narrowed her eyes.

"You really have no problem whatsoever that I'm your dead sister's Nobody?" Yetra asked.

"Why would I?" I asked. I wasn't trying to sound stupid and uncaring, but I just couldn't wrap my head around hating Yetra for any reason. She was a good girl and she'd saved my life. She couldn't help that she was a Nobody; she just was.

Yetra smiled, then forced herself to keep looking angry. "So, what next?"

"We keep training here," I said. "Then, we go on. It's simple."

And it was, in a way. For two months, I trained until I was ready to drop (which I did, at first) until I could hold my own against Yetra, Riley, and anyone else who challenged me. Then, on my last day in DWMA, they threw a party. I'd became friends with everyone Riley knew, and they all attended.

Maybe that's why we were attacked by one of the world's enemies.

The party was awesome, music from one of Riley's many CD's blasting, even though I was holding up one of the walls. I never danced, mainly because I never got asked out by girls. The one time I did I knew the girl was joking, so I acted sarcastically, asking "Has hell froze over yet? No? Well, leave me alone." I wouldn't normally be that mean, but Ianus checked the girl's myspace, and she updated it saying she would trick that 'nerd Jeremiah.'

I mean, c'mon. That's just insulting.

Anyways, I was wearing a black suit and a black tie (suit-mandatory), listening to the music, when Yetra walked up to me. Yetra hadn't changed any, her light-blue hair still a bob, but she was slightly more muscular, which I only noticed when I saw her in a backless black dress.

I hadn't changed much either, but I hit five-foot-six now, so Yetra and I were eye-to-eye.

"Holding up the walls well?" Yetra asked.

"Yep." I said, then turned and pushed against the walls, groaning. "Oh no, it's falling!"

Yetra smiled, but didn't laugh. I never knew why, but Yetra always seemed a bit reserved around me, even thought we'd been becoming very good friends in the two months I'd been training. Yetra had trained as well, but not much.

"Want to dance?" Yetra asked.

I blushed. "I can't dance. Family curse."

"You know you want to."

"I know that I _don't_ want to, actually."

Yetra grabbed my hand, pulling me to the dance floor. But, a second before she turned around and forcibly made me dance, a man busted through the door, a chainsaw blade going around his leg. The two halves of the door fell down, and the man walked through. He had his nose pierced, and was holding a bottle in his hand.

"That guy!" I shouted.

"You know Giriko, too?" Maka asked.

"No, but he's obviously here to fight." I shrugged. "He kicked the frickin' door down."

"Good point," Riley said, holding his sister in her claymore form. "Who wants to go against him?"

"Well, I would, but he's not a Heartless..." I said, scratching the back of my neck, when a Heartless came out of nowhere, tackling Giriko. He fell back through the open door, screaming, as Riley stared wide-eyed. Then, three Heartless came out of nowhere, and I destroyed all of them, one with fire and the other two with a spinning attack.

"You think Giriko's dead?" Kylie asked.

"Aye, in a way." Riley said. "When Heartless kill, they make a Heartless and a Nobody, right?"

We heard a noise, thinking it was Giriko, when a Heartless shaped like Giriko walked into the apartment.

"Well, he's going to be dead in another way soon." Yetra said, charging forward, her sword appearing in her hand.


End file.
